Course Description:
Prerequisites: One semester of college-level biology and an ecology course (can be met via BIOE342 Field Ecology at FLBS) or equivalents; or consent of instructor. Principles and methods of evolutionary behavioral ecology, strongly emphasizing the development and honing of professional field study skills. Interactive lectures and discussions will cover basic and advanced concepts relevant to modern Darwinian analyses of complex contingent behaviors, including sexual and social behaviors. Our opportunistically chosen study organisms will consist of diverse terrestrial species, including fantastical and highly observable arthropods. As individuals, small teams, and sometimes as a whole group, we will discover and study behavioral phenomena bestowed upon us on the FLBS grounds and, as logistics allow, other wonderful nearby locations. We shall engage in close observation of behaviors, followed by whole-class round-table formulation of (a) evolutionary adaptationist hypotheses about a given behavior's possible net benefits, (b) testable predictions of each hypothesis, and (c) effective and efficient methods to test those predictions in the field or lab; in the classroom or on-the-spot in the field. Methodological troubleshooting will be a big part of our work together. All potentially meaningful data will be analyzed. Instructor – Dr. Paul Watson, U of New Mexico (http://biology.unm.edu/pwatson/pjw_cv.htm)

Web Address of Course Info:
https://flbs.umt.edu/apps/education/